IPv6
The Internet’s Future?
Barry O’Donovan
Engineers Ireland - April 25th 2012
https://www.inex.ie/ei-ipv6-2012.html
INEX
An IXP – Ireland’s IP Peering Hub
Neutral, industry owned association
Founded 1996; ~66 members; 5 PoPs
INEX
An IXP – Ireland’s IP Peering Hub
Neutral, industry owned association
Founded 1996; ~66 members; 5 PoPs
https://www.inex.ie/joining/aboutixps
https://www.inex.ie/about/memberlist
Barry O’Donovan
“Internet Infrastructure Specialist”
MD of Open Solutions
“Closet geek; political anorak, husband,
father, network enginner, company
owner, employer, …”
http://www.barryodonovan.com/
http://www.opensolutions.ie/
Overview
A (brief?) history of Internet numbering
IPv4 exhaustion status
Introduction to IPv6
Why IPv6 adoption is sooooooooooo slow
The IPv6 opportunity
Overview
A (brief?) history of Internet numbering
IPv4 exhaustion status
Introduction to IPv6
Why IPv6 adoption is sooooooooooo slow
The IPv6 opportunity
The Problem
Why IPv6?
Because we’ve run out of addresses
Again!
Huh? Really!?
Yes, we’ve been here before!
Internet Time Machine
1969: ARPANET commissioned by DoD
1970: ARPANET hosts start using NCP:
Network Control Protocol [RFC33]
8 bit addressing
=> only 256 hosts!
Internet Time Machine
1972: Telnet specification [RFC318]
1973: Ethernet outlined in a PhD Thesis
File Transfer specification [RFC454]
1976: Queen Elizabeth sends an email!
Internet Time Machine
1982: DCA & ARPA establish TCP and IP
DoD declares TCP/IP as their standard
1983: Cutover from NCP to TCP/IP (IPv4)
“Flag Day” – January 1st 1983
RFC2235 – Hobbes’Internet Timeline
“Flag Day”
January 1st 1983
All nodes updated on Flag Day to IPv4
(still “facepalm”?)
8bit addresses -> 32 bit addresses
 ~4.29 billion addresses
Enough?
No: 7.008 billion people; 8.01 by 2025
1 billion “smart devices” shipped in 2011
Back Up the Truck
Are we all clear on what an IP address is?
“A number assigned to a device on a network”
We’ve all seen them:
127.0.0.1
192.168.1.254
8.8.4.4
DNS: www.engineersireland.ie => 46.22.128.85
Who’s the Boss?
IANA
AfriNIC
APNIC
ARIN
LACNIC
RIPE
RIRs – Regional Internet Registries
Blacknight
LIRs – Local Internet Registries
End Users
Vodafone
eircom
Overview
A (brief?) history of Internet numbering
IPv4 exhaustion status
Introduction to IPv6
Why IPv6 adoption is sooooooooooo slow
The IPv6 opportunity
What’s Left?
IANA
AfriNIC
APNIC
Apr 15 ‘11
ARIN
Feb 3rd 2011
LACNIC
RIPE
What’s Left?
IANA
AfriNIC
Mid 2015
Feb 3rd 2011
APNIC
ARIN
LACNIC
RIPE
Apr 15 ‘11
Late 2013
Mid 2014
Late 2012
Final /8 policies:
once only - /22 (1024) – must have IPv6
~16k allocations (>7k LIRs in RIPE 2010)
What’s Left?
IPv4 exhaustion projection is a presentation
in its own right
If you want to know more:
Geoff Huston - http://www.potaroo.net/
http://www.potaroo.net/tools/ipv4/index.html
What’s Left?
IPv4 exhaustion projection is a presentation
in its own right
If you want to know more:
Geoff Huston - http://www.potaroo.net/
http://www.potaroo.net/tools/ipv4/index.html
Overview
A (brief?) history of Internet numbering
IPv4 exhaustion status
Introduction to IPv6
Why IPv6 adoption is sooooooooooo slow
The IPv6 opportunity
IPv6
IETF began developing IPng in…
1993!
RFC1883 Internet Protocol, V6, Specification
(1995)
IETF Standard 1998 (RFC2460)
IPv6 in the OSI Model?
Application
Application
TCP UDP ICMP
TCP UDP ICMP
IPv4
IPv6
Data Link
Data Link
Physical
Physical
What’s New in IPv6
It’s (only?) an evolution of IPv4
Extended address space
32bit addresses => 128bit addresses
~4.29 billion => ~340 undecillion
Huh?
340,282,366,920,938,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
What’s New in IPv6
Stateless autoconfiguration (and RD)
Simplified header
Removed on-the-fly fragmentation
No more ARP – Now ICMPv6 ND
Native Security, Flow labels & IPsec
IPv6 Addressing
128 bits / 16 bytes: 8 x 16bit hex blocks
2001:0db8:0000:0000:0702:b33f:001b:0055
2001:0db8::0702:b33f:001b:0055
2001:db8::702:b33f:1b:55
2a01:268:3002::35
IPv6 Subnetting
340 undecillion addresses is a bit misleading…
2001:0db8
Typical initial LIR allocation is /32.
IPv6 Subnetting
340 undecillion addresses is a bit misleading…
2001:0db8:0000:0000:0702:b33f:001b:0055
64 bit interface ID
18,446,744,073,709,551,616
addresses – 18.4 “quintillion”.
ISP end user assignment /48 (/56)
65,536 /64 subnets at end user.
Typical initial LIR allocation is /32.
65,536 /48 end users / sites
IPv6 in the “Real World”
It’s been around and live for a long time!
“If the end user ever needs to know about IPv6
then we’ve made a complete f&%k up of the
transition.”
All current operating systems support it.
Natively and by default.
Even Windows!
IPv6 in the “Real World”
It’s been around and live for a long time!
“If the end user ever needs to know about IPv6
then we’ve made a complete f&%k up of the
transition.”
All current operating systems support it.
Natively and by default.
Even Windows!
IPv6 in the “Real World”
Most services have long supported IPv6
SMTP, POP3, IMAP, DNS, HTTP(s), SSH,
Telnet, FTP, Bit Torrent, IRC, IM, …
Modern systems default to IPv6
(e.g. DNS AAAA lookups before A)
IPv6 in the “Real World”
barryo@destiny:~ $ host www.opensolutions.ie
www.opensolutions.ie has address 87.232.16.35
www.opensolutions.ie has IPv6 address 2a01:268:3002::35
barryo@destiny:~ $ host -t MX opensolutions.ie
opensolutions.ie mail is handled by 10 mail.opensolutions.ie.
barryo@destiny:~ $ host mail.opensolutions.ie
mail.opensolutions.ie has address 87.232.16.61
mail.opensolutions.ie has IPv6 address 2a01:268:3002::61
So what’s the problem…?
Overview
A (brief?) history of Internet numbering
IPv4 exhaustion status
Introduction to IPv6
Why IPv6 adoption is sooooooooooo slow
The IPv6 opportunity
Transition to IPv6
IPv6 is not backwards compatible with IPv4
A second “Flag Day” is impossible
That leaves two real choices:
(a) Dual stack networking (medium term)
(b) CGNs, CDNs, ALGs (medium -> long term)
Dual Stack Transition
Running IPv4 and IPv6 in parallel
Already in place for modern OS’
Already in place for modern (ISP) routers
Firewalls & L7 Devices Caught/Catching Up
Main issues are: access network and CPEs
And demand.
And we still have IPv4.
Back Up the Truck. Again.
We should probably talk about
ISP networking
Back Up the Truck. Again.
We should probably talk about
ISP networking
Back Up the Truck. Again.
We should probably talk about
ISP networking
And
“The Internet”
Back Up the Truck. Again.
We should probably talk about
ISP
networking
Transit
Providers
And
Our ISP
“The Internet”
Content
Back Up the Truck. Again.
We should probably talk about
ISP networking
And
Our ISP
“The Internet”
Content
Back Up the Truck. Again.
We should probably talk about
ISP networking
And
Our ISP
“The Internet”
Content
Back Up the Truck. Again.
We should probably talk about
ISP networking
And
Our ISP
“The Internet”
Content
Dual Stack Transition
We said:
“Main issues are: access network and CPEs”
From what we just learned,
where are we with IPv6 transition?
Back Up the Truck. Again.
We should probably talk about
ISP networking
Dual Stack Transition
We said:
“Main issues are: access network and CPEs”
Transit Providers
From what we just learned,
where are we with IPv6 transition?
Our ISP
Content
Transition to IPv6
Next issue: Demand.
End user demand – have you asked your ISP?
Your IT vendors? RFTs?
Access Provider  Content Provider
Need IPv6 content that users demand
Need IPv6 users that content providers need
Transition to IPv6
Next issue: Demand.
End user demand – have you asked your ISP?
Access Provider  Content Provider
Need IPv6 content that users demand access
to
Need IPv6 users that content providers need
to reach
Transition to IPv6
How do we solve “chicken and egg” problem?
It’s actually quite easy…
But painful… and slow…
We wait.
IPv4 is running out. Fast.
We need to aggressively push / demand IPv6
We need to avoid CGNs / CDNs / ALGs
Irish ISPs and IPv6 Ripeness
RIPE have an IPv6 RIPEness project
Up to 4 stars assigned for:
• Having an IPv6 allocation
• Visibility in routing tables
• Having a “route6” object
• Having a reverse DNS delegation
http://ripeness.ripe.net/
Irish ISPs and IPv6 Ripeness
Irish ISPs and IPv6 Ripeness
Irish ISPs – Top Performers
World IPv6 Day – June 8 ‘11
Top websites & ISPs turned on IPv6
Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Akamai, Limelight
“To see what would happen…”
Microsoft (and xbox, bing); 100+ million users
“Almost no connectivity issues”
“Brokenness was within the margin of error”
World IPv6 Launch – June 6 ‘12
Permanently enabling IPv6
Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Akamai, Limelight
Microsoft, AT&T, D-Link, Cisco
World IPv6 Launch – June 6 ‘12
Permanently enabling IPv6
Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Akamai, Limelight
Microsoft, AT&T, D-Link, Cisco
Overview
A (brief?) history of Internet numbering
IPv4 exhaustion status
Introduction to IPv6
Why IPv6 adoption is sooooooooooo slow
The IPv6 opportunity
The IPv6 Opportunity
IPv6
“The Powerhouse of the Internet’s Future”
Hmmm…
Well certainly enabling the Internet’s future
We’re all aware of the benefits of the Internet
But what advantages does IPv6 offer?
The IPv6 Opportunity
More address space.
Auto-configuration (local and routable).
Return to end-to-end networks. Woot!
i.e. no more NAT!
“An Internet of Devices”
IPv6 is built to scale – no manual intervention
The IPv6 Opportunity
Network merges – renumbering (and VPNs)
More efficient routing
More efficient packet processing
Directed Data Flows & Multicast
The IPv6 Opportunity
To sum it up:
IPv6 is about the future;
And future possibilities.
Overview
A (brief?) history of Internet numbering
IPv4 exhaustion status
Introduction to IPv6
Why IPv6 adoption is sooooooooooo slow
The IPv6 opportunity
Getting Started with IPv6
Ask your ISP for IPv6
They’ll probably say no. Do it anyway!
Then goto a “tunnel broker”
SixXS: http://www.sixxs.net/
Hurricane Electric: http://www.tunnelbroker.net/
6to4 - 6rd - Teredo
That’s All Folks!
Copy of the Presentation:
https://www.inex.ie/ei-ipv6-2012.html
Contact me:
Barry O’Donovan
barry@opensolutions.ie
INEX: https://www.inex.ie/